The Abetone forest botanical garden

The Abetone forest botanical garden will give you the chance to get to know all the natural environments present in the high Tuscan Emilian Apennines without having to walk kilometers and kilometers.
In fact, this small botanical garden, conceived in the ’80s, aims to preserve and make known the different characteristic and rare environments that are part of this area.

You can reach it by car from the road between Pian di Novello and Fontana Vaccaia and from here start many trekking routes that lead you to Monte Gomito, Alpe Tre Potenze and Foce di Campolino.

The areas that characterize the high Tuscan Emilian Apennines and in particular the Pistoia mountains are enclosed within the vegetable garden and are divided into:

• Forest area and mushroom path:
  this area is located near the entrance and is composed of a mixed forest of spruces, maple, beech and other trees. You can find flowers like the white anemone, the violet geranium, the bird’s nest orchid and the fanfaraccio.
  In some periods of the year we can see the mushroom trail; where we find the most famous species of mushrooms in the area;
• The siliceous and calcareous rocks;
• The moor:
  On the north facing slopes we find the blueberry, false blueberry and juniper nano heath.
  In the sunnier slopes, however, meadows with different species such as the widow, the martagon lily and the purple gentania.
• The wet area
  In the lower part and in the shade of the botanical garden, a wetland has been created creating artificially stagnant water. Here are rushes, carnivorous plants and plumes. Wetlands are rare and important for conserving biodiversity.

The only structure inside the Botanical Garden is a small refuge where you can find guides or curators.
Not far away, however, there is an educational center where meetings and lectures on ecology and botany take place.